Today the Japanese arm of Sega announced via a press release that it unilaterally suspended sales of Judgment (titled Judge Eyes on the local market) and all its DLC in Japan.
The reason for this action is because actor Pierre Taki was involved in a drug bust in Tokyo and arrested, as reported by Japan Times.
Sega described the event as “highly regrettable,” mentioning that the company is verifying the facts, and promising to notify customers of future actions as soon as they’re determined.
Taki-san plays the role of Yakuza officer Kyohei Hamura in Judgment, and you can read a description below from the game’s official western website.
“Captain of the Matsugane Family, a subsidiary of the Tojo Clan based in Kamurocho.
Hamura is self-centered, but he’s also a mastermind skilled in taking others down for his own benefit. He’s heavily involved with Yagami throughout the serial murder case.”
At the moment it is unclear how long this suspension of the game’s sales will last or whether it’ll be permanent, but Sega has engaged in a veritable campaign to remove as many traces of it as possible.
Promotional tweets have been deleted, and even the official Japanese website is inaccessible with a redirect to the press release mentioned above.
At the moment, the western arm of Sega has taken no action, with all the promotional materials and official websites still fully accessible. It’s not known whether this will affect the western launch of the game, which is scheduled for June 25.
We contacted Sega of America for a possible clarification on this, and we’ll let you know if we receive any relevant information.
If you want to see more about Judgment, you can also watch the latest trailer (while you still can), another trailer showcasing the western localization (with English voice acting in addition to the Japanese one), and the original announcement of the western version.
Update: Sony Music Entertainment also announced that sales of Pierre Taki’s music and videos are going to be completely cut both in physical and digital form. Product already in stores is also being recalled.
